A 32-year-old Keene, N.H. man who earned Internet infamy over a photo that showed him hoisting up a stolen wine bottle during the Jan. 6 US Capitol insurrection was arrested Monday afternoon on federal charges stemming from the violent siege that killed at least five people including a police officer, authorities said.
In a statement, the FBI Boston field office said agents arrested Jason Daniel Riddle on charges issued out of federal court in Washington including knowingly entering a restricted building without lawful authority, theft of government property, and violent entry and disorderly conduct on capitol grounds.
A complaint filed in the case alleged that Riddle admitted during an interview with FBI agents that he not only helped himself to wine but also snatched a book from the Capitol during the insurrection and later sold it to someone outside for $40.
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A federal public defender for Riddle didn’t immediately return an email seeking comment.
“Today’s arrest brings the total number of individuals arrested by the FBI Boston Division in connection with the riots at the U.S. Capitol to six,” the FBI statement said.
A running online database of suspects charged by federal prosecutors in Washington with crimes connected to the Capitol siege listed 173 defendants on Monday afternoon.
Additional defendants charged federally with New England ties include Natick Town Meeting member Suzanne Ianni, 59; Mark G. Sahady, 46, a Malden resident and organizer of the controversial Straight Pride Parade in Boston in 2019; Thomas Gallagher, 61, of Bridgewater, N.H.; Patrick Edward McCaughey III, of Connecticut; and Brian McCreary, 33, of North Adams.
Violence erupted Jan. 6 after thousands of people had attended a rally where former president Donald Trump urged them in the waning days of his presidency to walk to the Capitol and “fight like hell” in an effort to disrupt Congress’s certification of Joe Biden’s November election victory.
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Thousands of rioters quickly overwhelmed Capitol police stationed outside the building and broke into the seat of government, forcing the evacuation of Congress and resulting in the death of Officer Brian Sicknick, who was attacked by as-yet unidentified participants in the siege. No one has been charged in Sicknick’s death.
A federal complaint filed in Riddle’s case said Riddle gave a television interview to NBC10-TV in Boston shortly after the insurrection, in which he “admitted to entering the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021.”
The complaint said Riddle during the two-minute and 42-second clip “describes his observation of what other rioters were doing inside the U.S. Capitol by stating, ‘They were smashing computers, and printers, and breaking things, and throwing papers and lamps around.’ When asked by the reporter, ‘Why did you go in?’ Riddle responded, ‘I just, I just had to see it.’ When asked if Riddle regretted it, Riddle responded, ‘No.’”
The complaint added that images surfaced on the Internet of Riddle holding a purloined wine bottle inside the Capitol.
“Later in the interview, a digital image was displayed which showed Riddle holding a bottle of wine while standing inside the U.S. Capitol,” the filing said. “Riddle describes his activities while inside the Capitol by stating that he ‘poured a glass of wine and watched it all unfold.’ He also described those he saw committing violent acts, stating, ‘[t]hose psychopaths going around breaking things and hurting people can rot in hell.’”
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Riddle, authorities said, had also provided photos and videos he had taken during the siege to NBC10.
Travis Andersen can be reached at travis.andersen@globe.com.